Second Chances
by no cure for crazy
Summary: They were in a new place. Maybe she could start over. Try again. Make things right. AU.


AN: So I really hated how The Death Cure ended because Teresa was my favorite character and I was scrolling through Tumblr and saw a post about Chuck and Teresa and ended up reading the tags from the poster. I got to thinking and thus, this idea was born.

Disclaimer: Last time I checked, I was a female college freshman. Therefore, I'm not James Dashner.

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><p>Second Chances<p>

She slowly walked forward, not wanting to frighten Chuck after all they'd been through. The boy was sitting alone in the middle of the grassy plane. He looked smaller than usual – as if the weight of everything was weighing heavily on his small shoulders.

_It probably was…is. _

Her heart broke for him. He shouldn't have had to go through any of this. None of them should have.

She glanced around the large new area they had ended up in after rushing through the Flat Trans. Their new home, she guessed. Everyone her eyes moved over looked beaten and tired – must like how she felt. Some were sitting around, taking a breath, taking in all their surroundings. Others had gone off exploring, but they still didn't venture too far. Not yet anyway.

Seeing all of them like this; bruised and battered. Scared – both emotionally and physically. Tired and probably confused.

It only fueled her hatred for WICKED. She scoffed and shocked her head.

Thinking about everything that's happened to her.

To them. Because of _her. _The damn maze, the rest of the trials.

Newt.

Gally.

Brenda.

She could only blame herself for what happened to Brenda. It had all happened so fast. One minute she was pushing Thomas through the doorway towards the Flat Trans and the next she felt hands pushing on her back. She barely glanced backwards in time to see Brenda being crushed by a chuck of ceiling.

"_Brenda!" Thomas stopped in his tracks, trying to shove past Teresa to get to her. _

"_There's no time Tom," Teresa shouted at him. "The only place is starting to fall…You can't save her."_

"_Thomas," Brenda called out, weakly. "Go…save….yourselves…you two…" _

And then she had trailed off.

Teresa had had to pull Thomas away from the scene and into the Flat Trans. Since then, he hadn't had anything to do with her.

The look on Tom's face whenever he would glance her. The anger and disappointment in his eyes mixed with something she didn't recognize. She didn't blame him – how could she?

He didn't even remember. He chose not to have his memories restored.

The small, selfish part of her wished he had. Maybe then, he wouldn't look at her like he did. With disgust in his eyes.

Then again, he probably blamed her for Brenda's death. Why wouldn't he? When she basically blamed herself too.

He wasn't the same person anymore. Then again, neither was she. None of them were.

Hell, even Minho refused to look at her. Of course they were never friends to begin with but they were always somewhat civil. Until recently – when it was released that she had been working with _them. _

The way everyone looked at her differently now was nothing but her fault.

It was all on her. Because she had been naïve enough to actually believe that WICKED was good. That their cause was what was right. That they could actually save them.

If she could, she would go back and change everything. She wouldn't have agreed to work on the maze, let alone help create it or the trials. But she knew that she couldn't do it. What's done was done and she just had to live with that. Even if it meant she lost her best friend in the process.

She shook the thoughts away. She couldn't dwell on it. Not only would it not help anything, it would only make her more depressed than she already was.

She closed her eyes for a few moments and took a few deep, calming breaths. She never decided to close the remaining distance between her and Chuck.

"Hey," she said, softly as she approached him.

Chuck barely glanced up, but a small, sad smile appeared on his face.

_At least there's something_, Teresa thought.

"Did Tommy send you over here to check on me?" he asked.

Teresa settled herself into a comfortable position in the grass next to Chuck. She frowned for a moment before she answered. "I think we both know that Thomas and I aren't really on the same page at the moment...hell, we haven't been for a while now."

"I don't blame you," Chuck responded after a silence had washed over the two of them.

Taken aback, Teresa looked over at the younger boy. The shock must have been present on her face because he spoke again.

"For the things that happened in the Scorch," Chuck clarified. "Along with what happened before we went through the Flat Trans."

Teresa gave a small smile. "I think you're the only one."

Chuck glance up at her. "I know you…or I feel like I do anyway. You're not the type of person you were pretending to be. I may be the youngest but I notice things. I see the way you look at Thomas – you care about him."

"He was my best friend," Teresa said, softly, a sad looking gazing over in her eyes.

"He still can be," Chuck told her.

Teresa shook her head. "I'm not sure it's not easy…Maybe it would be different if he had decided for getting his memories restored. But without knowing what happened before we went into the maze…"

She trailed off, not sure how to finish the sentence.

She took another breath. "I feel like this is all my fault – if I hadn't agreed to work with WICKED, none of this would have happened."

"You don't know that."

"Tom and I were one of the ones who helped _them_ create the maze and the trials. We were along for every step of the way," Teresa told him as if he didn't already know that.

"Even if it weren't the two of you helping," Chuck began. "Who knows who else they would have made help them."

"I guess that makes me feel a little better," Teresa said. "Or it would if all of this klunk wasn't weighing down on my shoulders."

Chuck playfully punched her right shoulder. "Look at you using glader terms."

A smile broke across her lips. Secretly, she was glad for the change in subject. "I guess I've been spending too much time around all of you."

A silence washed over the two of them. Teresa found herself finding comfort in just being in the younger boy's presence. There was just something about being around someone who didn't judge, didn't care. Things used to be like that with Thomas and she wished for nothing more than to be able to go back to those days.

But that was before the maze, before the scorch, before her relationship with him went to hell. Things weren't simple enough to just go back to normal.

"I'm sure things will get better," he said after a while.

She glanced over at him. She hoped that was true but a small part of her was still hesitant to believe that. But maybe she could allow herself room to hope.

After all, they were in a new place. Maybe they could start over. Try again.

She turned around and stole a glance at Thomas off in the distance.

Maybe just maybe Chuck was right. Maybe this was her second chance to try and make things right with her and Thomas. She wanted her best friend back and she would make sure to find a way to do that.


End file.
